Zoo's dolphin calf gets a regal name

Brookfield Zoo visitors have chosen "Micco" as the name for the zoo's new dolphin calf. A staffer derived the name from "me'ke," a Seminole Indian word for "king," said zoo spokeswoman Sondra Katzen.

More than 3,000 total votes were cast, two-thirds of them through the zoo's home page, she said.

Since his birth on Oct. 19, the male calf's grandmother, Tapeko, has taken on most of the nursing and care for Micco. That's not unheard of, Katzen said. In the wild, dolphins don't always do well with the first few calves they bear.

"Tapeko is an experienced mother," Katzen said.

Micco has begun to interact with trainers and is swimming up to observation windows to peer at zoo visitors.

He is one of three zoo babies at the west suburban zoo; a gorilla, Nadaya, was born in April and a giraffe, Masham, was born in September. "We had a baby boom here last year," Katzen said.